Dissolution kinetics of dehydroxylated nickeliferous goethite from limonitic lateritic nickel ore

The dissolution kinetics in 2 M H₂SO₄ of variously dehydroxylated nickeliferous goethites was investigated for five oxide-type lateritic nickel deposits. Goethite was the main constituent with minor amounts of quartz, talc, kaolinite and Mn oxides. Dissolution of Fe from heated materials followed the Kabai equation. There was a 9–34-fold increase in the Kabai dissolution rate constant (k) for samples heated at 340–400 °C due to both the increased surface area (1.5–2.6 fold) and higher density of structural defects (5–10 fold) in the variously dehydroxylated products. The presence of structural Al and Cr in goethite appears to reduce dissolution rate possibly through the greater M³⁺–OH, O bond strength relative to Fe³⁺, Ni²⁺–OH, O. Nickel showed congruent dissolution with Fe indicating that Ni was uniformly incorporated in the goethite structure. Pre-heating goethite to 600–800 °C for 30 min resulted in incongruent dissolution of Fe and Ni. It is postulated that some Ni is ejected from the neo-formed hematite structure and resides on the crystal surface or in voids. These results may contribute to the development of more efficient procedures for Ni extraction including heap leaching of lateritic nickel ores.     

Ethanol reforming and partial oxidation with Cu/Nb2O5 catalyst

Ethanol reforming and partial oxidation were studied on Cu/Nb₂O₅ and Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts. Compared to the Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst, the Cu/Nb₂O₅ catalyst presents conversion as high as Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst, however, for the same level of formation of hydrogen it occurs at much lower temperature on the Cu/Nb₂O₅ catalyst, 200 °C lower than for the Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst, with remarkable little formation of CO, which can be attributed to the strong interaction between copper and niobia. Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD-ethanol) and surface reactions (TPSR) of partial oxidation of ethanol showed formation of ethylene, acetaldehyde, ethane and mainly H₂ and CO₂ besides little methane. DRIFTS results are in accordance with TPD analysis and the formation of acetate species at room temperature suggests reactivity of the surface and its oxidative dehydrogenation capacity. The adsorption of ethanol gives rise to ethoxide species, which form acetate and acetaldehyde that can be oxidized to CO₂ via carbonate. A comparison with reported results for Cu/Al₂O₃ this catalyst is promising, yielding high level of H₂ with little CO production during reforming and partial oxidation reaction. The maximum H₂ formation for the partial oxidation of ethanol was 41% at ratio (O₂/Et) 0.8, increasing to 50% at ratio 1.5. The H₂/CO is around 10 for the partial oxidation and 7 for steam reforming, which is excellent, compared to the Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst with a factor 4–8 lower.     

Iron impregnation on the amorphous shell of vapor grown carbon fibers and the catalytic growth of secondary nanofibers

Vapor grown carbon fibers (VGCFs) with diameters of several microns were synthesized and investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the shell of the VGCFs consisted of densely-packed domains embedded in loosely-packed matrix, and both were highly amorphous. Regular edge planes as observed on the surface of fishbone nanofibers do not exist on VGCFs. Hence, surface treatment is more important for the deposition of catalysts. Ammonium ferric citrate (AFC) was employed for the impregnation of iron, where the high viscosity of the aqueous solution of AFC is beneficial. Calcination was found to be a key step to improve the dispersion of the iron particles, which can be attributed to enhanced interactions between iron and carbon due to the gasification of carbon occurring at the iron–carbon interface. Quantitative analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the calcination of the supported AFC led to a higher atomic concentration of iron on the surface, indicating smaller particle size and a higher dispersion. Secondary carbon nanofibers were grown subsequently on the VGCFs from cyclohexane. The specific surface area was enhanced considerably, from less than 1 m² g^? 1 to 106 m² g^? 1 after the growth of the secondary nanofibers. The obtained composites are promising materials as structured support in heterogeneous catalysis.     

Amorphous carbonated apatite formation on diamond-like carbon containing titanium oxide

Thin films of diamond-like carbon (DLC) containing titanium oxide (DLC-TiO_x, x ≤ 2) were synthesized using a pulsed DC metal–organic plasma activated chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results confirmed the presence of TiO₂ on the surface of the films. The compressive stress, elastic modulus and hardness of the films decreased with increasing Ti content. The water contact angle reduced from 62° for DLC to 45° for DLC-TiO_x films containing 13.3 at.% of Ti. The biomimetic growth of amorphous carbonated apatite on the DLC-TiO_x in simulated body fluid (SBF) was found and dependent on the Ti content of the film. UV light exposure prior to immersion in SBF increased the growth rate of apatite formation significantly as a result of increased hydrophilicity of the surface.     

Disponibilité des liaisons hertziennes numériques utilisant des polarisations croisées a la même fréquence

A study is made of the availability of links operating at the same frequencies with cross polarization. A simple method of computation is presented showing how the availability is reduced due to multipath propagation in the case of frequency reutilization. After having pointed out the effect of the characteristics of the antenna with crosspolarization, the reduction is availability of calculated from results of polarization decoupling measurements carried out on various test links.     

Fabric filter bag investigation following field testing of sorbent injection for mercury control at TXU's Big Brown Station

Field testing of mercury control sorbent injection options with a TOXECON™ configuration has been completed at TXU's Big Brown Station. Mercury control results at Big Brown were promising and have been previously reported. However, the high air-to-cloth ratio of operations at this unit results in significant differential pressure, and thus there was little operating margin before differential pressure limits were encountered, especially at high loads. This limited the use of sorbent injection as the added material contributes to the overall differential pressure. After field testing, the residual differential pressure across the test fabric filter module had increased relative to baseline conditions to the point that the plant performed a filter change of the test module several months ahead of schedule. An investigation was conducted on pre- and posttest filter samples from the test module and a parallel nontest module to examine the effect of activated carbon injection. Analysis of the samples indicates an increase in residual dust embedded in the filters which appears to explain the low fabric permeabilities. The long-term increase in differential pressure did not appear to be associated with activated carbon injection, but instead was due to a gradual buildup of embedded material on the filters that was not cleaned away by the pulse cleaning system. The injected activated carbon appeared to behave like additional fly ash in terms of baghouse differential pressure but did not appear to accelerate the buildup of residual material.     

An Analog Delay Circuit for On-Line Visual Confirmation of Discriminated Neuroelectric Signals

An analog delay circuit which utilizes an inexpensive commercially available analog shift register is described. The delay circuit when used in conjunction with a window discriminator will display "on-line" visual confirmation of single neural events from extracellular recordings containing more than one spike class. The delay can be changed to include the entire spike waveform by adjusting a potentiometer in the delay circuit.     

Kinetic and morphological study of a magnesium ethoxide‐based Ziegler–Natta catalyst for propylene polymerization

BACKGROUND: Kinetic and morphological aspects of slurry propylene polymerization using a MgCl₂‐supported Ziegler–Natta catalyst synthesized from a Mg(OEt)₂ precursor are investigated in comparison with a ball‐milled Ziegler–Natta catalyst. RESULTS: The two types of catalyst show completely different polymerization profiles: mild activation and long‐standing activity with good replication of the catalyst particles for the Mg(OEt)₂‐based catalyst, and rapid activation and deactivation with severe fragmentation of the catalyst particles for the ball‐milled catalyst. The observed differences are discussed in relation to spatial distribution of TiCl₄ on the outermost part and inside of the catalyst particles. CONCLUSION: The Mg(OEt)₂‐based Ziegler–Natta catalyst is believed to show highly stable polymerization activity and good replication because of the uniform titanium distribution all over the catalyst particles. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Viscous dissipation and apparent wall slip in capillary rheometry of ice cream

We have analysed sets of capillary rheometry data (0.3 s^?1 ≤ γ_app ≤ 360 s^?1) for a commercial ice cream as it flowed from a freezer on an industrial flow line. Pressure drop measurements were used and particular attention was paid to viscous dissipation effects. A semi-analytical model presented by Bird in 1955 indicated that over one third of the data points were subject to local wall heating, which was consistent with available temperature measurements. The filtered data were used to construct a viscosity function which, when implemented in a detailed CFD simulation of the flow, predicted the observed flow curve behaviour. The results demonstrate that viscous dissipation can be significant in ice cream and that interpretation of this behaviour in terms of wall slip is erroneous.     

Template-assisted synthesis of PbTiO3 nanotubes

Nanotubes of ferroelectric lead titanate (PbTiO₃) have been made by a template-assisted method. An equimolar Pb–Ti sol was dropped onto porous alumina membranes and penetrated into the channels of the template. Single-phase PbTiO₃ perovskite nanotubes were obtained by annealing at 700 °C for 6 h. The nanotubes had diameters of 200–400 nm with a wall thickness of approximately 20 nm. Excess PbO or annealing in a Pb-containing atmosphere was not necessary in order to achieve single-phase PbTiO₃ nanotubes. The influence of the heating procedure and the sol concentration is discussed.